BIOS

Patricia Kelly, of the Sto:lo First Nation, chants and beats a drum during a protest outside National Energy Board hearings on the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in Burnaby, B.C., on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The Canadian Press
Published Friday, January 22, 2016 6:42PM EST

VANCOUVER -- A North Vancouver First Nation says its court challenge of a National Energy Board review of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion has been adjourned at the request of the federal government.

Lawyers for Tsleil-Waututh Nation have been asking the Federal Court of Appeal to stop the NEB review of the $5.4-billion project, arguing the band wasn't properly consulted.

The First Nation says in a news release that government lawyers asked for the adjournment on Friday and now have until the end of April to advise the court about any changes in its legal position.

The nation says the motion by federal lawyers represents the first step the government has taken to correct deficiencies with the board's review of the pipeline expansion.

It says the government now has time to build a new relationship with its members.

The decision was made as the energy board meets in the nearby city of Burnaby to hear oral arguments about the pipeline from interveners.